Yeah, but you never know. I like the scripts in today's post. Of course, I am tempted to also write to Collins: "I'm sure you have learned your lesson" and will now atone for your past support of this most anti-democratic president ever, by opposing him now.
I do not understand Murkowski. She’s afraid? She represents a state that has grizzly bears for goodness sake! I don’t understand all of this fear the Republicans have. They’re afraid of their own maggot followers I guess. Well it’s a good thing that the Original revolutionary army wasn’t afraid.
DAMN THEM TO HELL for their “big, beautiful, EVIL bill” According to Heather Cox Richardson, “And while the tax cuts would go into effect immediately, the cuts to Medicaid are currently scheduled not to hit until 2029, enabling the Republicans to avoid voter fury over them in the midterms and the 2028 election.”
This is so sneaky and deceitful. So voters won’t be affected until after elections. Then how can we get the message out to MAGAts and uninformed voters to affect elections?
The GOP budget bill is their nightmare agenda on steroids. It's so heartless, I'm not sure Reagan would have signed it "Pay the Rich - "Screw the Poor".
If the final bill comes out anywhere close to how this one sounds, I'm hopeful the MAGA movement will take a BIG, BIG hit. The bill will hurt their voters in Red states more than we Liberals.
We'll have plenty to make our case for radical change in 2026.
When it's possible, would you please clarify the penalties for folks on Medicaid if they fail to meet work requirements, obtaining healthcare outside of Medicaid?
Is advancing this bill 2 years sooner still on the table?
Here I found this from Politico: “the legislation also would disqualify Americans from getting health insurance at lower costs through the Affordable Care Act marketplace if they otherwise qualified to receive Medicaid but failed to meet new work requirements — something that appeared to catch key GOP members of Energy and Commerce by surprise.”
Thanks for asking Frances and thank you for this info Jess. I’ve been seeing so much info it’s confusing. My insurance is through get covered NJ which is our ACA marketplace so I’m paying close attention.
yes that the concession hard-liners got. It would start in 2026 in its current version. And yes there is some awful compnoent where if you fail to meet work requiements you will be automatically disqualified from having access to the ACA I *think*? But don't quote me on that. Better to ask a deep expert.
Speaker Johnson leaves me speechless. He’s nothing more than a water boy for Trump who blindly does his bidding. I’m hoping that the Senate will have the smarts to vote no. Remember what the Missouri Senator said: Folks in my state will be unduly and profoundly affected if this bill comes to pass. What cruelty. What shortsightedness. How can all of these “good” Christians find a way to hurt so many people?
Another time-bomb (on a very short clock) buried in the House budget bill apparently would cancel Federal courts' ability to use (civil and/or criminal) contempt charges against people (organizations too, I presume) who refuse to carry out court decisions.
This would cripple (or completely eliminate) one of the few enforcement mechanisms Federal courts have in the reality of the DoJ sycophancy to "Donny 2 Dolls" [nickname credit to Lawrence O'Donnell, MSNBC]. The potentially financially crippling civil contempt penalty could be "Unless John/Jane Doe complies with the Court order within 72 hours, a fine of $10,000 shall be imposed. Further delay will see the fine doubled at each succeeding 24 hour interval in perpetuity until compliance with the order is made to the Court's satisfaction." Ten doublings (2 to the tenth power) is 1024x the initial fine ($10,000 ==> $10+ million). Gotcha!?!
I sent the following, fairly simple message to my Senator Martin Heinrich (D-NM) --
"Among the many problems with the GOP House budget plan recently passed is an apparently completely non-budgetary (non-financial) provision to preclude federal justices from using contempt charges on non-compliant administration (regime?) officials. Following is a link to some expert analysis of this anti-democracy provision --
Jay Kuo had a great post today explaining the BBBB ( Big Beautiful Bullshit Bill) Yes,I used those words when calling my MAGAs😜, the process and the legislative hurdles they face with the Senate.📲📲📲
Thank you for so much good info! My son and daughter in law in Richmond, and I'm writing postcards to voters with a couple organizations:
Postcards4VA - https://postcards4va.com/ has 2 campaigns currently. 1. "Wake Up Virginia", and 2. "Primary Postcards to Women Voters for Women Candidates" in partnership with the National Women's Political Caucus of Virginia. Voting in this primary election is on June 17 and early voting is May 2 - June 14, so not much time.
Field Team 6: https://www.fieldteam6.org/ - Encourages women to register and vote for Abigail Spanberger for Governor.
Last week nearly 30 senators, led by Sen. Peter Welch, introduced a resolution in response to Israel’s blockade on humanitarian aid entering Gaza. The resolution identifies the dwindling food supplies in Gaza caused by the blockade and calls on the Trump administration to use diplomatic tools to end it. For more than 2 months, Israel has obstructed the entry of all humanitarian aid from entering Gaza with the support of the Trump administration. At least 57 Palestinians have died of starvation, and more than 9,000 children were treated for malnutrition during the first four months of 2025.
Shockingly, my two Senators, Schiff and Padilla did not co-sponsor this resolution and they will b hearing from me about that. But surely, this issue needs to be at the top of the list of calls we make. I know there was an action last week and that was great, but we need to be calling our Senators every day about this, and especially Democratic ones so that every single one signs on to Senator Welch's resolution.
Made the calls, sent the Resistbot letters, wrote the cards to Collins and Murkowski. Onward!
Wow you're fast!
Collins is hopeless ....She's always " concerned" but does nothing!
Yeah, but you never know. I like the scripts in today's post. Of course, I am tempted to also write to Collins: "I'm sure you have learned your lesson" and will now atone for your past support of this most anti-democratic president ever, by opposing him now.
Will these Senators read a postcard from a non-constituent?
"... we were supposed to lose the ACA fight in 2017"
We had Nancy Pelosi leading the fight.
And John McCain defying McConnell.
Chuck Schumer is not up to the job. Hakeem Jeffries maybe but barely.
And today's Republicans ...
But now we have the Resistance. And we're in to win!
You are a wonder, Jessica. 💙
I do not understand Murkowski. She’s afraid? She represents a state that has grizzly bears for goodness sake! I don’t understand all of this fear the Republicans have. They’re afraid of their own maggot followers I guess. Well it’s a good thing that the Original revolutionary army wasn’t afraid.
Or, being afraid but deciding that, as Roosevelt said:
"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear."
DAMN THEM TO HELL for their “big, beautiful, EVIL bill” According to Heather Cox Richardson, “And while the tax cuts would go into effect immediately, the cuts to Medicaid are currently scheduled not to hit until 2029, enabling the Republicans to avoid voter fury over them in the midterms and the 2028 election.”
This is so sneaky and deceitful. So voters won’t be affected until after elections. Then how can we get the message out to MAGAts and uninformed voters to affect elections?
Well, as I said Republicans are trying to move those cuts to 2026 so as awful as that is at least voters will know who did it to them.
The GOP budget bill is their nightmare agenda on steroids. It's so heartless, I'm not sure Reagan would have signed it "Pay the Rich - "Screw the Poor".
If the final bill comes out anywhere close to how this one sounds, I'm hopeful the MAGA movement will take a BIG, BIG hit. The bill will hurt their voters in Red states more than we Liberals.
We'll have plenty to make our case for radical change in 2026.
🙏
Indeed.
Thank you, Jess, and everyone here!
Hi Jess,
When it's possible, would you please clarify the penalties for folks on Medicaid if they fail to meet work requirements, obtaining healthcare outside of Medicaid?
Is advancing this bill 2 years sooner still on the table?
Thank you.
Frances
Here I found this from Politico: “the legislation also would disqualify Americans from getting health insurance at lower costs through the Affordable Care Act marketplace if they otherwise qualified to receive Medicaid but failed to meet new work requirements — something that appeared to catch key GOP members of Energy and Commerce by surprise.”
Thanks for asking Frances and thank you for this info Jess. I’ve been seeing so much info it’s confusing. My insurance is through get covered NJ which is our ACA marketplace so I’m paying close attention.
Thank you, that's very discriminatory. What else don't they realize is in the bill .
yes that the concession hard-liners got. It would start in 2026 in its current version. And yes there is some awful compnoent where if you fail to meet work requiements you will be automatically disqualified from having access to the ACA I *think*? But don't quote me on that. Better to ask a deep expert.
Thanks Jessica. ✌️
Speaker Johnson leaves me speechless. He’s nothing more than a water boy for Trump who blindly does his bidding. I’m hoping that the Senate will have the smarts to vote no. Remember what the Missouri Senator said: Folks in my state will be unduly and profoundly affected if this bill comes to pass. What cruelty. What shortsightedness. How can all of these “good” Christians find a way to hurt so many people?
They are the least Christ-like Christians in America.
Jessica --
Another time-bomb (on a very short clock) buried in the House budget bill apparently would cancel Federal courts' ability to use (civil and/or criminal) contempt charges against people (organizations too, I presume) who refuse to carry out court decisions.
This would cripple (or completely eliminate) one of the few enforcement mechanisms Federal courts have in the reality of the DoJ sycophancy to "Donny 2 Dolls" [nickname credit to Lawrence O'Donnell, MSNBC]. The potentially financially crippling civil contempt penalty could be "Unless John/Jane Doe complies with the Court order within 72 hours, a fine of $10,000 shall be imposed. Further delay will see the fine doubled at each succeeding 24 hour interval in perpetuity until compliance with the order is made to the Court's satisfaction." Ten doublings (2 to the tenth power) is 1024x the initial fine ($10,000 ==> $10+ million). Gotcha!?!
I sent the following, fairly simple message to my Senator Martin Heinrich (D-NM) --
"Among the many problems with the GOP House budget plan recently passed is an apparently completely non-budgetary (non-financial) provision to preclude federal justices from using contempt charges on non-compliant administration (regime?) officials. Following is a link to some expert analysis of this anti-democracy provision --
https://www.justsecurity.org/113529/terrible-idea-contempt-court/
Keep up your good work. Do everything you can to stop this budget plan and this embedded time-bomb."
Perhaps you or someone else practiced at creating meaningful ResistBot campaigns could make one to send to Congress members country-wide.
Jay Kuo had a great post today explaining the BBBB ( Big Beautiful Bullshit Bill) Yes,I used those words when calling my MAGAs😜, the process and the legislative hurdles they face with the Senate.📲📲📲
https://open.substack.com/pub/statuskuo/p/big-beautiful-bullshit?r=fqsxl&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
Jay Kuo is the best.
Postcarding...my favorite thing!
Thank you for so much good info! My son and daughter in law in Richmond, and I'm writing postcards to voters with a couple organizations:
Postcards4VA - https://postcards4va.com/ has 2 campaigns currently. 1. "Wake Up Virginia", and 2. "Primary Postcards to Women Voters for Women Candidates" in partnership with the National Women's Political Caucus of Virginia. Voting in this primary election is on June 17 and early voting is May 2 - June 14, so not much time.
Field Team 6: https://www.fieldteam6.org/ - Encourages women to register and vote for Abigail Spanberger for Governor.
Hi Jessica,
Last week nearly 30 senators, led by Sen. Peter Welch, introduced a resolution in response to Israel’s blockade on humanitarian aid entering Gaza. The resolution identifies the dwindling food supplies in Gaza caused by the blockade and calls on the Trump administration to use diplomatic tools to end it. For more than 2 months, Israel has obstructed the entry of all humanitarian aid from entering Gaza with the support of the Trump administration. At least 57 Palestinians have died of starvation, and more than 9,000 children were treated for malnutrition during the first four months of 2025.
Shockingly, my two Senators, Schiff and Padilla did not co-sponsor this resolution and they will b hearing from me about that. But surely, this issue needs to be at the top of the list of calls we make. I know there was an action last week and that was great, but we need to be calling our Senators every day about this, and especially Democratic ones so that every single one signs on to Senator Welch's resolution.
FYI: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/5/19/2322444/-No-Food-Water-Fuel-Entered-Gaza-Since-March-2nd
That's very good news about the nonprofit killer going down!
Looks like they've still got the stripping of enforcement powers on contempt of court in though...